Aurora church decks the hall for Advent

Congregants at Fourth Street United Methodist Church in Aurora opened the Advent season Dec. 3 with an annual Hanging of the Greens service.

The Rev. Deborah Tinsley Taylor, church pastor, said the Advent season begins four Sundays before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve.

She said, "During Advent, we reflect on, prepare for and participate in the coming of Christ. Advent makes innkeepers out of all of us, asking each of us to make room for the arrival of the king."

With readings and hymns, congregants decorated the church sanctuary with window vases, an Advent wall banner, evergreens, poinsettias, paraments (colored table coverings),. choir loft wreath, nativity set, Advent candelabra and a Chrismon tree.

Chrismons are handmade ornaments that symbolize the life of Jesus. Disturbed by secular yule tree decorations, Frances Spencer of Danville, Va., in 1957 created ornaments with ornaments combining Christ and monograms.